Enhancing Nexus Resilience through Public Empowerment

Project Scope

While nexus literature has focused more on the biophysical aspects of the environment, the role of society in enhancing the resilience of the nexus concerned is rather understudied. We argue that people play a critical role in guaranteeing the success and sustainability of nexus solutions. Moving beyond the implementation of nexus solutions, ensuring their resilience in the face of shocks would take putting people at the heart of the nexus.

To analyse the influence of participation on nexus solutions, indicators shall be developed to quantify the social aspects of the nexus. This study seeks to contribute towards the nexus literature on resilience.

To illustrate against the context of three challenges — climate change, water shortages, and biodiversity loss — we present the Singapore case, where interdependent relationships between nexus components are generally well managed. However, much of the approach has been top-down and lacks public empowerment. While there is some degree of public consultation, there lacks actual ownership of the problem and, as such, limits the effectiveness of certain measures.

Focusing on Singapore's main drivers of resource (e.g., water) consumption, this project addresses the household and industrial perspectives for transformative change. Through a multistakeholder approach, it seeks to enable a shift from a top-down to a bottom-up approach towards nexus solutions.

Governance Approach

As private companies have done, we must attempt to switch from a top-down to a bottom-up approach in environmental management. This will allow us to increase awareness among citizens and allow them to become a central part of the solution.

Stakeholder Participation: Adopt a participatory approach that encourages stakeholder engagement at all levels, from policy-making to implementation. This will involve co-designing and co-delivering solutions with stakeholders.

Accessibility: We will ensure that the benefits of the NEXUS approach are accessible to all stakeholders. This includes ensuring that policies and interventions are inclusive and do not disproportionately affect certain groups.

Integrated Assessment: We will promote cross-sectoral and cross-scale coherence in the assessment of climate change, water shortages, and biodiversity loss.

MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES

Objective: To increase public awareness and facilitate a bottom-up approach to enhance nexus resilience in Singapore by addressing adaptation, water shortages, and biodiversity crises.

SMART Objectives

Specific: Raise public awareness of the relationships and interactions within the WEFE nexus in relation to crises in adaptation, water availability, and biodiversity.

Measurable: To gauge the improvement in public knowledge and understanding of the WEFE nexus and its relationship to adaptation, water scarcity, and biodiversity, surveys should be conducted prior to and after awareness campaigns.

Achievable: To reach a large audience and promote understanding of the interdependencies between the WEFE nexus, it is achievable to develop and implement targeted communication and educational initiatives.

Relevant: Addressing Singapore's resilience and sustainable practices by raising public awareness of adaptation, water scarcity, and biodiversity crises is important.

Timebound: Implement the awareness campaign and educational initiatives within a predetermined timeframe, checking in on progress frequently and aiming to increase public awareness by measurable amounts within that time frame.

Solutions

Alternative 1: The Singapore Interactive Nexus System (SINS)

As previously described, this system leverages technology to engage stakeholders in a bottom-up nexus approach, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment and providing a platform for cross-sectoral collaboration and capacity building. It provides real-time data and interactive features to enhance Singapore's resilience to climate change, water shortages, and biodiversity loss in an innovative and inclusive way.

Alternative 2: Community-led Green Infrastructure Projects

This alternative involves the establishment of community-led projects to implement green infrastructure in local neighbourhoods. Residents would be involved in designing and maintaining green roofs, rain gardens, and other green spaces. This approach not only contributes to climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation but also fosters community engagement and ownership.

Alternative 3: Citizen Science for Biodiversity Conservation

This alternative engages residents in the monitoring and conservation of local biodiversity. Residents could participate in activities such as bird watching, tree mapping, and biodiversity surveys, contributing to scientific research and conservation efforts while also learning about local biodiversity.

Alternative 4: Water Conservation Community Initiatives

This alternative involves the establishment of community initiatives to promote water conservation. This could include community challenges to reduce water consumption, workshops on water-saving techniques, and establishing community gardens that use water-efficient irrigation systems.

Alternative 5: Climate Change Education and Awareness Campaigns

This alternative involves the implementation of education and awareness campaigns to inform residents about climate change and its impacts. These campaigns could involve community workshops, school programs, and public events and provide information on how residents can contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.

COST BENEFIT Analysis (CBA)

For the project presented, which aims to use technology for a bottom-up nexus strategy, boosting stakeholder participation and improving Singapore's resilience to climate change, water shortages, and biodiversity loss, these steps (on the left) guide the development of the economic valuation of interventions deriving the following.

BENEFITS

Projects involve reduced climate change impacts, improved water security, and enhanced biodiversity. These can be measured through economic values commodities and mitigation measures.

Climate Benefits: 1 degree cooling utilising AC causes an increase of 10% (Mramstead, 2021) in electricity bills. A two-bedroom home in Singapore has an average electricity bill of 50 dollars (Cue 2023). Mitigating a degree of decrease in terms of temperature would allow residents to save 30 dollars per capita per year.

Water Benefits: Citizens consume 154 litres as of 2020, but the target consumption per citizen is 130 litres per day (Syamimi 2022). Considering the price of 0,00274 dollars per liter of water in Singapore (Purity 2022), reaching targets would result in a saving of 24 dollars per capita per year.

Biodiversity Benefits: 8.1 trillion dollars are expected to be allocated from the Singapore government until 2050 to overcome the biodiversity crisis (Fidelity International n.d.). Considering the population of Singapore, the early awareness of biodiversity causes may result in a 5.3 dollars per capita per year saving.

COSTS

• Software development
• Hardware infrastructure
• Platform maintenance
• Staff training
• Database management
• Salary of workers interacting with system ongoing technical support